Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ingenioius, Giddy Music, July 17, 2005
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is an inspired tour de force of comic insanity, retribution, and an enormous place that makes the most luscious sweets around. Suffice it to say that the soundtrack to this movie must live up to this insanity, which it complements to a tee.
One of the funniest, most surprising things about this movie is the Oompa Loompa's music, which, coincidentally, is a hallmark in the first movie as well. The Oompas Loompas sing to each child as they "get it" in the factory, sending them off with a bit of jabbing and barbing their lesson. Danny Elfman took the words from the actual book, and put them to music. Each child has a different "theme" of music, which becomes almost as comical as the actual song. Combined with inspired choreography, it makes for a laugh-sterical time.
The opening song on the CD is quite catchy and frivilous, which greets the kids and parents as they enter the factory. Most have compared it to a TV show theme, which is very true. Try leaving the theater without that song stuck in your head.
The rest of the CD is magical with music from the movie, and it's typical Elfman fare. It's amazing how much alike his music sounds from one movie to the next, yet each is brilliantly unique.
The first Wonka movie had it's own music, which is indelible and memorable. This movie and music is not meant to replace that classic, but to add a new chorus into an amazing story. You won't regret buying this soundtrack!
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53 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Danny Elfman's Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, July 14, 2005
More of a techno-tune fantasy than the bubbly candy land music of Willy Wonka, Danny Elfman's fantastic and original score for Tim Burton's Charlie & The Chocolate Factory is possibly one of the best soundtracks ever from the legendary composer. I've been a huge fan of Elfman, everything from Simpsons to Sleepy Hollow. Hints of Edward Scissorhands and Mars Attacks prevail throughout the running time. Starting off with the up tone antics of 'Wonka's Welcome Song' and the 'Augustus Gloop' and 'Violet Beuregarde' theme tunes, the highlight is track 7: Wonka's First Shop. Equally impressive is 'The Indian Palace' and the charming 'Wheels in Motion'. This is the soundtrack that Danny Elfman was born to compose, combining some previous scores while infusing it's own unique blend of quirky fun. CTCF is one of those soundtracks that make you want to watch the movie even more, and this is a great accompanying soundtrack. Charlie's Birthday Bar and The Golden Ticket/Factory combined with the effortless wit and sparkle of Chocolate Explorers and Loompa Land; this is the soundtrack that all enthusiasts must own. While not as memorable as the classic Bricusse and Newley 1971 oompa-loompa original, given time it will be remembered as one of the best soundtracks ever. This is a must for Elfman and Burton fans, and a great addition to my already extensive Elfman collection.
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28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Danny Elfman is a genius!, July 12, 2005
Danny Elfman is truly a genius. He is up there with the likes of John Williams and Howard Shore, in my opinion.
This album is *BRILLIANT*! Let me write a brief review of each individual lyrical song, and then an overview of the instrumental score....
1) Wonka's Welcome Song -- This song is awesome. It gives one the feeling of listening to "It's A Small World" or "Welcome to Duloc". Couple that with the visuals we've seen in the trailers, and we've got ourselves a truly disturbing, but very fun song. It's creepy, it's annoying, and it serves its purpose well! You'll have this song stuck in your head for *days* (even Tim Burton himself mentioned that he couldn't get it out of his head.)
2) Augustus Gloop -- This song will have you tapping your toes and humming along (or singing, if you know the words, like many fans of the book do). It is catchy, fun, and upbeat. Pure Bollywood. Danny Elfman provides the voice for all the Oompa-Loompas, in all of the kids' song.... But you would *never* be able to tell! It's so hard to describe how great this is!
3) Violet Beauregarde -- This one makes you think of "Kung Fu Fighting" or those Mad TV parodies of '70s cop shows with the pimp-type music, girls with afros, and bellbottom polyester pants. Danny brilliantly rearranged Dahl's words to make this song all about Violet, and it works perfectly. This one, too, will have you itching to get up and dance!
4) Veruca Salt -- I love this song. I'm a huge fan of ABBA, and you can tell Elfman was influenced by them for this song. There is one point in the song where it sounds almost *exactly* like an ABBA song (I'm blanking on which one at the moment). It's brilliant! Dahl's lyrics are put to very good use (a fishnet cut from a halibut; an oyster from an oyster stew), and makes this song seem like an ABBA-style Dr. Demento song ("Fish heads! Fish heads! Eat 'em up, yum!"). It's awesome!
5) Mike Teavee -- This one is my second favorite behind Augustus'. This one uses a wonderful mixture of '80s hair bands, then goes into an obviously Queen-influenced bit... And then it goes into a Sgt. Pepper's-era Beatles-influenced part. It is catchy and fun and just all-out great!
As for the score of the film. Well, it's just pure and brilliant Elfman all the way through.
The use of the sitar in Track 8: The Indian Palace, which is for the Prince Pondicherry scenes, immediately recalls me back to Sgt. Pepper's yet again...
Track 13: Loompa Land is very catchy and it's the kind of music for a movie that you'd want to put as the background music for a fan website or something. The River Cruise tracks and The Boat Arrives are brilliant as well; the use of the drums and Oompa-Loompa chanting really gives us a feel of them being a primitive race of people from the jungle, just like in the book!
The only small, small part I didn't like was the very end of Track 7: Wonka's First Shop, because it goes very briefly from sounding like Danny Elfman music to sounding like John Williams music. It's brief, but to me it stuck out like a sore thumb. And it isn't that I don't like Williams' music; he's another of my favorite composers, but it just didn't fit in with Elfman's score very well....
But, the entire score is just brilliant and touching and it's just great! Oh, and the End Credits are 7 minutes long and include instrumental-only versions of the Wonka Welcome Song, and the four kids' songs. It's a great way to end a perfect soundtrack!
This movie soundtrack gets 5 out of 5 stars. Danny Elfman is a genius!
Joy
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